Yoda

Karen, You may already be a winner!! When did you heal your first tooth? Post the date and if nobody can post a sooner date, I'll have Ed deliver you your $20! Yoda

Smile, did you use a rife machine for blood electrification? ET, I tried the alternative dentistry experiment and it failed leaving me to pay 1.7k later in dentist fees, painful too. I didn't try a rife machine, sound waves, etc so that might could work. If I were in the same situation again, I'd just get the $200 filling and be done with it. For the record, I tried brushing with opaque soap and salt and (towards the end (it might have been too late already)) soaked the sucker in fluoride regularly. If you go the dentist route, go sooner rather than later so it's just a filling and not a root canal/crown situation. Having said that... If you don't go the dentist route, please report your results! I am totally convinced that it can be done. As a matter of fact, I'm hereby offering the Taobum X Prize: $20 *all cash* to the first bum who successfully regrows a portion of the enamel of a tooth!! EZ money for the K-Awake folks around here!

I think that the essence of the Secret is pretty simple... Ask and ye shall receive and seek ye first the kingdom of God and all else will be added unto you. As Esther says, once you find the God part, you don't really care about the rest of it. Having said that, having siddhis, quivering palm attacks, and best selling books, etc is good advertisement for your school and has its place as an important part of the skillful means of bringing greater knowledge to the world.

That's one that I'm working on.

I was flipping through "Heaven Lies Within" by T. Bernard and I found a willpower test: take a deep breath and hold it as long as you can (allowed to exhale only). The longer you can hold your breath, the better your willpower. If you can hold it until you pass out, you've got supreme willpower. I'm sure that there are a few on this forum who can do this. I know a sales/business guru who says that the reason for his success is his willpower, and he tells a story from his childhood where he held his breath until passing out just before the curtains were drawn where he was to be the drummer in a grade school concert for the parents. He and his pals were just killing time until the show.

Anyone got it? I heard second hand that it is pretty fun, but I don't know how much is in English.

Wayfarer, Sure willpower can be used for good or for ill and your teacher stressed the negative aspect of it, but it's handy that you got the goods and passed the ancient yogic test. Yoda

People who believe in free will get laid more often.

Oh, it's a quote... I thought you were being wise there for a minute!!

Father Paul, Like Obi-Wan Kenobi, you'll be more powerful than you could possibly imagine! Your Pal, Yoda

I studied with Reggie Ray 90-92... one of the best Buddhist scholars in the USA hands down. Buddhist Saints in India is extremely scholastic but is outstanding, I've not read his recent books. Also Reggie's pal, Judith Simmer-Brown, is pretty kick ass too. They both are able to bridge scholarship with personal practice... a rare blessing.

Eric, You might try going to church every so often. Might help iron things out. If you can't stomach the the particular tradition maybe go with something lighter like a Quaker outfit or something? That might help ease her competing loyalties. Yoda

Eric, I've enjoyed your books too, great to have you here! Yoda

Wild: http://www.iht.com/articles/2007/05/09/news/birth.php

Sanjaya it is! Seriously though, this thread points out that taobums isn't geared for discussing lineage based practices with an appropriate level of respect. I think that's fine... it's impossible to be all things to all people, but I'll try to keep that in mind for future discussions.

I think that just breathing the air on this planet brings lots of spiritual growth even if one never formally practices. There's a Sufi saying: "Everyone you meet is an accomplished mystic from well before the creation of the universe." As my practice makes me a more loving dude, that can't but help make Mrs. Yoda groovier too even if she never does any form of formal cultivation practice. So in that sense Mrs Yoda and Mrs Thelerner are practitioners. I think that one attracts a partner not just based on vibrational alignment but also as a help towards the fulfillment of one's life destiny. The more you understand your destiny, the more you'll understand the reason you are with a particular partner, had the parents you did, etc. jmo, Yoda

Wayfarer, Wow, those are some serious Thangkas! I'm not in the market, but thanks for sharing!! Yoda

I've always known that places have energies that can help or hinder but I've always had mixed feelings about systems of working with place energy. My biggest beef is that they are too fussy... impossible to win... there's always some angle or direction that sucks. With some hesitancy, I ordered "Victory Through Vaastu" by Sri Kaleshwara. I'm not at all familiar with Hindu feng sui, but this version has the plus that it's simple enough for anyone to master. Sure enough, there are plenty of nice Vaastu aspects of my current house but, of course, there are negatives that can't be changed. But there are some things that can be changed. I'll experiment with it. For the things that can't be changed, maybe I'll pop a piece of organite on the spot or some sort of energetic happy face to help keep the groove. I'd love anyone's thoughts on this topic. I suppose if you just think happy thoughts that you'll be less impressionable to external influences and less likely to live with them too that you don't really have to concern yourself with this sort of thing. That's probably the bottom line. btw, the Hindu thang is that they dig domes and pyramid roof lines, hence you see that kind of architecture.

There you have it... a two for one special!

I got the Complete Idiot's guide to Feng Sui. On the one hand, it is a fantastic introduction to Chinese energy theory/astrology/iching/fengsui/numerology etc... a subject that I've always been interested in but haven't had the patience to actually digest. On the other hand, the subject matter is still too complex for my speed reading ways. It's definitely not for dummies... you need to know you and your family's/coworker's astrology factors and date the house/office is built to sort this out. The tables are all in the book, but I'd be scared to learn that I need to sleep facing south, Mrs Yoda facing north and we kick each other in the face all the time, etc. So if you are single and have some time on your hands, this book is worthwhile. The same authors wrote an Idiot's guide to IChing which I imagine would be excellent too. Possibly even easier to get into. I also got Power of Vastu Living and it is a nice book and it's a much simpler system. Written for high volume readers like me. Yoda

I guess nobody wants to touch that one. How about this: who is the hottest teacher-guru-avatar out there? Who's fly? (did I say that right?) In the classics league Krishna would have been top of the list if he hadn't taken a Smurf for his mother. That leaves the field wide open for Buddha or Jesus to take the prize... (Buddha when he was at fighting weight, of course) I'm most interested in the alive-and-kicking department and am not as concerned about level of enlightenment. A note from Mom will work. On the other hand, those are harder to get than you'd suppose. Maybe just writing a book or making it to youtube will suffice. So far, I've been pretty underwhelmed by what's on the market currently. In the classics league, I'd go with Green Tara. I know the green is... distinctive... but there you have it. Yoda

SeanD has brought the tinderbox factor back to the bumz!!! Regarding the enlightened status of our own Matthewqi, if I've understood him correctly, he is simply saying that he has awakened his kundalini. He calls it being K-awake. That seems like a perfectly normal claim to make and common enough too. I have no problem believing him. I hope for his sake, that it is stable, balanced and enjoyable. Yoda

Thanks to Cam for discovering the newest youtube guru. Here's what he has to say about the Secret:

awesome!